SEMO starts slow, finishes fast in TSU rout

It’s not how the Redhawks started the game, but how they finished it.

Southeast Missouri State started Thursday’s tilt down 17-1 but ended with a 92-75 win over Tennessee State in the Show Me Center.

With the win, the Redhawks returned their record to .500 (11-11, 6-3 OVC) and remain tied for first in the Ohio Valley Conference with UT Martin, Morehead State, Tennessee Tech, and Southern Indiana.

Despite being in a deep deficit early in the game, the Redhawks seemed certain that victory was inevitable.

“We knew we were gonna win, SEMO sophomore guard Aquan Smart said. “Even when we went down 17-1, we always kept faith that we were gonna win and we know if we stayed together, we were gonna win.”

“I just think we got settled in,” SEMO head coach Brad Korn said. “They came out with a bunch of energy and physicality early, and so I just don’t think we were ready for that at the start for whatever reason.”

Sophomore point guard Phillip Russell led the Redhawks with a game-high 30 points on 8-of-15 shooting and 10-of-11 in the free throw line.

“It makes my job a whole lot easier when you have a guy that can just break up press on his own and get us organized offensively,” Korn said of Russell. “He’s a complete player offensively, he did a great job defensively, and so he’s just a complete player. He’s a competitor.”

“Coach calls him the head of the snake, “ Josh Early said of Russell. “When he’s on, everybody’s on.”

Adam Larson ended the Tigers’ opening run with a 3-point basket and later gave the Redhawks their first lead of the game with a dunk that put SEMO up top 40-39 with 2:06 remaining in the first half.

In between those two moments were 21 points either scored by Russell or assisted by him.

“Really what led to [the comeback] was us staying calm,” Russell said. “I told the guys we’ll be straight, we watched a lot of them on film. We know they come out with aggression. The coaches told us to stay the course, the emotions fade away.”

Chris Harris made a mid-range jump shot to end the first half down 44-43.

After two teams were tied 51-51 with 16 minutes left in the game, the Redhawks went on a 13-2 run to take a 64-53 lead with 10:46 remaining, a lead that they would hold onto for the rest of the game.

Smart scored a season-high 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting and led the Redhawks, alongside Dylan Branson, with six rebounds.

“I feel like today was one of my better games in the season,” Smart said. “I felt like I played a complete game from the defensive side to the offense. I just did a little bit of everything.”

Early scored 12 points with five rebounds and Harris scored 10 points with five rebounds.

The Redhawks return on the road to take on Eastern Illinois on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.